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When Bullies Have Their Own Depression: Koe no Katachi and self-reflection.

Fresh from the oven. At the point of writing this, I finished the movie just hours ago.

Origin from manga, the movie lasts around 2hours 9mins.

The storyline is touching. The movie consists of the elementary school times, and also high school times. Elementary school times show how sly and shallow kids can be and how it can eventually affect your future. It also shows how the bullying started and how instant karma can be. Then we fast forward to high school times where the guy, who has put himself down to the bottom of the list and tries his absolute best to recover the things he ruined. The story pacing is adequate, so it’s never boring a single moment. There isn’t much plot twists, but the story isn’t exactly predictable too. The story didn’t really expand a lot but also isn’t flatline too. Yoshida Reiko’s script never disappoints me. Yamada Naoko, who directs K-on, Tamako series, also proved to be not rusty at all at her job. In fact, Yoshida Reiko and Yamada Naoko has worked together for K-on and Tamako, so it’s not surprising that the combi is near perfection. Well maybe because 2 women working together means better chemistry and communication. The character development is incredibly deep here, to compensate the lack of plot twists. The character is so well-portrayed that I get frustrated over characters, which is something I never did for a long time. Story depth is also pretty deep. The serious tone of the movie also moved me, not gonna lie, I cried 3 times during the movie. The ending can be a bit disappointing, even though it’s a pretty happy ending, it did not end the way I expected, but at least the wrap-up is pretty touching too. Overall, 2hours is adequate, and flaws are so minor that they are negligible. I absolutely love it, its been awhile an anime has made me so emotional. This made Kimi no Na Wa look pretty much nothing. Why so into fantasy when someone can adapt a slice-of-life so excellently.

Animations by Kyoto Animation. Expect a lot of eye candy. Character designs were great. At one point, Shoko looked like Lacus Clyne from Gundam Seed. Colors are excellent and the cute signature physical movements from a lot of KyoAni shows are a lot. Backgrounds are wonderfully rendered.

Music is excellent too. Aiko’s ED is just fabulous and the BGMs are well composed.

VAs is a pretty decent list. Irino Miyu, Hayami Saori, Yuuki Aoi, Matsuoka Mayu, Ono Kensho, Ishikawa Yui, Han Megumi, Toyonaga Toshiyuki, Nishitani Ryo, Kojima Sachiko, Matsumoto Takuya, Takeda Hana, Komatsu Fuminori, Yukino Satsuki, Hiramatsu Akiko, Hamaguchi Ayano, Kamata Erena, Ikuko Tani, Watanuki Ryousuke. I really have to praise Hayami Saori’s portrayal. This has got to be one of her best voice acting work in the history of her career. Her portrayal of deaf speech is pretty much perfect. The cast did their jobs well too. But Irino Miyu’s way of speaking during the movie… looks like its time for some little self-reflection, right after the the scores.

Scores

Story: 9.5/10

Art: 9/10

Music: 9/10

VAs: 9/10

Highly recommended, this movie did not gain much publicity because of Kimi no Na Wa overshadowing it and it’s limited exposure theatrical release. This movie makes Kimi no Na Wa doesn’t look as good as when I watched it the first time. I will read the manga. I’m not really satisfied with the ending.

Self-reflection time

Guys who are familiar with me and my blog should know that such moments are for shows that has opened my Pandora’s Box of my painful past.

This part onwards will have some slight spoilers so that I can explain better, so… erm… don’t read.

This one is pretty unique, because I relate to both Shoya and Shoko.

Elementary School Arc

She does remind me of Lacus Clyne.

The Elementary School arc makes me relate to Nishimiya Shoko. Why? It goes back to secondary school. I’m not a transfer student, I’m not deaf, but the process of trying to make friends and also bully is pretty identical. Her hearing aids are like my stationery. I keep losing them. It was painful, at one point I did thought of transferring school, but the fear of meeting new people made me retract that decision, and bear with the 4 years of hell.

High School arc

High School arc reminds me of Ishida Shoya. Why? Because of the events that happened in secondary school, I chose to isolate myself. I look down when I walk, I did not try to make friends, or even know people. Even though he chose to reunite his old friends, I made new friends instead, they made me eventually raise my head up slowly, just like how it ends. I’m pretty grateful for this.

4 responses to “When Bullies Have Their Own Depression: Koe no Katachi and self-reflection.”

The impact this movie has on me is ten times greater than that of Kimi no Na Wa.
In fact, I went home to watch Kimi no Na Wa straight after I finished Koe no Katachi in the cinema and the difference is clearer than the blue sky. Both having strong ‘movie’ feels to them but if asked which one got the most emotion out of me, the answer will always be Koe no Katachi. It’s funny too because it may be listed as romance, only once in the movie was there a mention of ‘liking someone’. The rest were pure emotions any human would bring out had they been in the same shoes as those people.

Wow, i’m interested in watching this movie now. Watching Kimi No Na Wa, I definitely thought it was a great show and it was beautiful! However, I suppose I didn’t connect with it as much as other people.

Well written review, and thank you for being so open about your past. I can relate honestly. I have been bullied a lot during my Highschool days, so I know at times how hard school life could be at times. I too eventually choose to isolate myself a bit…but eventually things went better and I made quite a few friends. These days at work, things like school life are really far in the past, but I guess things like that will never go away completely, and will always remain part of you, no matter how much things have changed. This movie sounds intriguing and am definitely going to check it out. Thanks for sharing this great review 😊